I looked at my greasy fingers pointing to the verse as I copied it. Two fingers have been broken out for over a year. I applied Vaseline over the steroid ointment to strengthen the medication. It’s called “slugging.”

But that’s not why I couldn’t go to church.

Psalms 42:4, “I will remember and weep. For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.” New English Translation

I started the day stretching my arches on the stairs, writing the alphabet with my feet, and rolling my foot over a frozen water bottle. The doctor said it is plantar fasciitis.

But that’s not why I couldn’t go to church.

I’m finishing off a bottle of cranberry juice. It does clear up a UTI.

But that’s not why I couldn’t go to church.

I woke up with mattered eyes. I washed them and started antibiotic eye drops.

But that’s not why I couldn’t go to church.

I carefully washed my face. I put steroid cream on the eczema patches, and Vaseline on the cracks around my mouth. I was careful not to touch the infected area which made me contagious.

That’s why I couldn’t go to church.

I put on white gloves, (to keep from scratching), gathered fluids, and watched the service on my tablet. Sometimes, you just have to endure.

*

Three weeks ago, was Easter. Sickness kept two of the worship team home for the last two weeks. The army and family travel will take other members over the next two weeks.

It will be Mother’s Day before we are all back together again. I look forward to that day when we all will be shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd.

*

I read many verses this week about enduring as my health took hit after hit.

Choose Your Friends Wisely

2 Chronicles 18:1, “Jehoshaphat was very wealthy and greatly respected. He made an alliance by marriage with Ahab.” NET

I enjoy reading books written by millionaires. One common theme is: Be careful with the friends you keep. They try to befriend billionaires because of what they will learn. You rise to the level of your closest friends.

Later we read how Jehoshaphat’s descendants were killed because they were also descendants of Ahab, 2 Kings 10:13-14.

Encourage Others

2 Chronicles 19:3-4, “…you were determined to follow God.

4) …He went out among the people…and encouraged them to follow the Lord God.” NET

2 Chronicles 19:11, “…act courageously, and may the Lord be with those who do well.” NET

Keep Your Covenant with God

“…2 Kings makes clear that devotion to the Word of God has the power to preserve us from total enslavement to the cultural blindness of the moment.”

New English Translation Introduction to 2 Kings

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2 Kings 2:19-22, “…the city has a good location…But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.

20) Elijah said, ‘Get me a new jar and put some salt in it.’ …

21) He went out to the spring and threw salt in it. Then he said, ‘…the Lord has said, “I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.”‘

22) The water has been pure to this very day. …” NET

The spring at Jericho is still good! It pumps out 1000 gallons per minute!

A “Covenant of Salt” is a covenant of perpetual obligation, Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19. Elisha applied the “Covenant of Salt” to the spring. God did the work deep in the earth where the spring originated.

When we believe Jesus died for our sins, God does a deep work in us. After that what we produce is full of life, not death. We have an abundance to enrich the lives of those around us. (See, “Save Me, Jesus” Prayer.)

Bless Your Food

2 Kings 4:42-44, “Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet – twenty loaves of bread made from the first fruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. Elisha said, ‘Set it before the people so they may eat.’

43) But his attendant said, ‘How can I feed a hundred men with this?’ He replied, ‘Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord has said, “They will eat and have some leftover.”‘

44) So he set it before them; they ate and had some leftover, just as in the Lord’s message.” NET

The attendant didn’t believe it could feed a hundred men. Elisha promised there would be some leftover and there was.

The prophets traveled with their families. They fed one hundred families.

How do you feed a crowd?

• Have a potluck.
• Make stew, not steak, 2 Kings 4:38-41.
• Eat bread to fill you up.
• Bless the food. God multiplies blessed food, 2 Kings 4:1-7.

God’s Plan Will Save Others

2 Kings 6:13, “… He is in Dothan.” NET

When Joseph found his brothers, they were near the city of Dothan, Genesis 37:17. It was there that he was sold into slavery.

Elisha had a different result. He didn’t kill or enslave the army. God struck them with blindness and he led them to Samaria. He gave them food and water and sent them home, 2 Kings 6:15-23.

Had Joseph’s brothers not sold Joseph, the Hebrews would have starved to death. Most of the world would have died, Genesis 37:18-36.

The Egyptians would not have stored the abundance of those first seven years. They fed the world out of that stored grain, Genesis 38-43.

It May End Tomorrow

2 Kings 6:24-25, “Later King Ben Hadad of Syria assembled his entire army and attacked and besieged Samaria.

25) Samaria’s food supply ran out. …” NET

God didn’t provide a brook, ravens, or a widow as He did with Elijah, see “Surviving Storms.” Elisha had to endure, sitting in his house, 2 Kings 6:32. The siege ended the next day, 2 Kings 7:1-20.

Feel like you are under siege? Endure, persevere. It will be over soon.

Follow God Wholeheartedly

2 Kings 10:31, “But Jehu did not carefully and wholeheartedly obey the law of the Lord God of Israel. He did not repudiate the sins which Jeroboam had encouraged Israel to commit.” NET

“Although Jehu zealously destroyed the worshippers of Baal (see vv, 19, 25-28), he did not follow the Lord with his whole heart (see v. 31). How often are we, like Jehu, prone to act in ways that give an appearance of righteousness while dishonoring the Lord in our attitudes or thoughts?”

NET notes on 2 Kings 10:18-31

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Proverbs 21:2, “All a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, but the Lord evaluates his thoughts.” NET

Help the One You Can

2 Kings 11:2, “So Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah’s son Joash and stole him away from the rest of the descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So he was hidden from Athaliah and escaped execution.” NET

“Jehosheba chose to act righteously by saving Joash’s life; while she could not save all the sons of Ahaziah, she took action to save one.”

NET note on 2 Kings 11:1-3

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As we endure, who can we encourage or help? Something as small as a text can change how someone feels.

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